Christina started writing as a young teen, jotting stories in wire ring composition notebooks. Her first typewriter made it faster to get all those stories out of her head and down on paper. Her love of writing has sustained her through a myriad of jobs that included hairdresser, legal secretary, waitress and door-­to-‑door saleswoman.

Luckily for her, writing proved to be successful and a lot less walking than going door to door. “A Husband for Danna” is Christina’s first novel. She is busy working on her next. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found walking her dog, talking to her herd of cats and spending time with her family.

We have some questions for you, Christina. First, What does your writing area look like?

I love my writing area! My favorite color is purple and after debating for several years I finally painted it a bright purple. I need lots of room to work so I took my 4 filing cabinets and laid a wood panel on top for space. I also have a huge bookcase with 5 shelves that could use another 5 shevles if it were possible. Best of all I have a beautiful bench with a candle and my art supplies near by just to distress and fill the well.

So you are an artist as well as a writer! How do you come up with titles and character names?

Names for my characters just seem to come to me. I think the characters actually introduce themselves lol. Now titles. That’s another game. It surprises me still how tough a time I have coming up with titles. This is why I’m very open to suggestions from my editors.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

This is a tough business. I’m sure they’ve heard it before but it’s true. I think you need the 3 Ps – patience, persistence and perseverance in your writer tool box. After that just write what you love. I forget who said it but she said it best “Do what you love. The money will come.” Of course today writers need to have their eggs in several baskets if they want to make a living but if this is all you have ever wanted to do then don’t ever give up. I wrote nonfiction for 25+ years but from the time I was about 12 I always dreamed of having a book published. It’s almost 40 years later. I say that not to discourage anyone. I’m sure if I had pursued my fiction first I would have been published years before. But I started out with journalism and loved it. So write what you love, don’t worry about what everyone else is doing or whether they’re getting published before you. Everyone’s path is different and that’s a good thing.

I have a journalism background, too, and I think it prepared me for writing fiction in that I met so many interesting people. I use that to draw on when creating a character. And like you, I published later in life than I would have liked. I just had to tell myself it was time.

What author (dead or alive) would you most like to meet?

Oh wow. I have so many favorites but I’ll go with the author who inspired me to become an author – Phyllis A. Whitney, who is deceased some years now. But my all-time favorite author who I would so love to meet has to be Debbie Macomber. Quick story: I wrote my debut release, A “Husband for Danna,” for a novella contest that Debbie Macomber’s publisher was sponsoring. The winner would be published in the back of a reissue of her book, “A Family Affair.” My dream was to win AND meet Debbie Macomber. It’s on my goal list and will be until I do!

I hope you get to meet her. She is one of my favorites, too. And Maeve Binchey, also sadly deceased.

What is something unique about you that others don’t know?

Hmmm…I’m not really too exciting a person. I’m a homebody and I’m the ‘crazy cat lady’ in my neighborhood. But I do run an Etsy jewelry shop where I sell jewelry as well as donate to private fundraisers for cancer. I also homeschooled my two children for 10 years right up until they graduated high school at home and went to college. I think that’s about it really.

Sounds like a full life to me! I’d be a crazy cat lady if my husband would let me. He just said ‘yes’ to a second cat and I nearly fell over in surprise. I think he secretly likes them, too.

What do you love that most people don’t like and wouldn’t understand why you do?

Well, maybe the fact that I love love the smell of old books. When I bring a book home from the library the first thing I do is open it up in the center and take a long, deep whiff. Weird huh?

Not really. Leather, paper, glue–all good scents that bring good memories.

Now for some really quick questions:

What is your favorite:

Animal Cats (hands down!)

Season Fall

Food Chocolate (it grows therefore it’s a food group lol)

Movie Funny Farm (aspiring novelist finds out he makes a great reporter instead)

Music Pop

Place you’ve visited Manhattan

Place you’d like to visit Tuscany, Italy

You will love Tuscany. That’s one place I’d like to revisit for a week or two.

Can you tell us what your book is about?

Off and running! In her frenzied quest to escape from a groom her father has chosen for her, Danna Rashba ‘borrows’ a limousine parked on Main Street. The last thing on her mind is finding a groom from another wedding in the backseat. What are the chances that the bride and groom from two different weddings running from the altar on the same day? The last thing Danna wants is a hostage as she tries to escape from her nuptials.

The last thing Eric Harmon wants is to be saddled with yet another spoiled, needy woman. He’s furious about this wrench in his plans, he accuses Danna of stealing. He wants to send her home in a cab as soon as they get to the nearest town, but Danna refuses. Much to Eric’s frustration, one thing after another seems to keep them tied together.

Soon the generosity of a local shopkeeper and several people in town have them mistaken for newlyweds. Danna and Eric find themselves stepping into the role as husband and wife leading them to realize they just may be each other’s ‘match’. But will Danna be able to stand up to her rigid, old fashioned father and choose her own husband?

I love the premise. Arranged weddings are something unique in our culture, so I’m interested in how she will handle her father.

EXCERPT

Chapter One

Panting from the short dash from the church to the curb, Danna looked around wild-eyed, spotting a limo at the curb. The fact that it wasn’t her bridal party’s limousine didn’t matter. She ran around to the driver’s side and flung open the door.

The sound of her wedding gown tearing broke the silence in the big empty car. Frustrated, she shoved away the seat belt and fumbled with the ignition key. Fighting the ostentatious bulk of her gown, she wiggled her bottom into the seat. She looked up to see a whirling funnel of pink rushing toward the limousine. In the eye of the storm, a snow-white gown accentuated one very red-faced bride.

A buzzing sound filled her ears. She looked down and saw a small black box, which she recognized as an intercom, between the seats. “Step on it!” a deep male voice boomed from the back seat.

With no time to berate herself for picking an occupied getaway car, she stepped on the gas and sped away from the curb, barely glancing at the side mirror. Drive now, think later. Slapping back the ringlets threatening to spill over her eyes, she checked her mirrors. She was fast approaching the only traffic light in Shady Bridge.

She tried to push the mess she had made from her mind. Goose bumps covered her bare arms despite the unusual October heat. Seeing the light turn yellow, she stepped down hard on the gas pedal and flew through the intersection, her head jerking back and forth. She felt like a balloon as the air sailed from her lips. Apparently her momentarily crazy driving had no effect on her male passenger.

The handful of stores were behind her now, their faded old brick fronts growing smaller in her rearview mirror. Now out of the heart of town, her shoulders began to relax. She took a deep breath as she had seen her mother do countless times during her morning meditation. Even as she relaxed her tense body, she couldn’t help but think about what she had done. It was as if she had been someone else — not Danna Rashba, the sensible, practical daughter.

The mix of farmhouses and Victorian homes on the outskirts of town were fading now too. Chewing her lip, she veered onto the ramp that led to Highway Three. Her mind racing, she tried to calculate how many hours she would have to drive to get far enough away from Shady Bridge. Or at least far away enough from Nagpal Singh, her husband-to-be who by now would have found out his bride had run away.

Wriggling in her seat, fighting to flatten the outrageous bustle her sister had talked her into, she cursed herself in silence. Why hadn’t she grabbed her t-shirt and jeans? Sighing, she shook her head. What was done was done. At least she had thought to grab the beaded satin clutch she had picked out for the “big day.” The petite bag was about the only thing she had picked out on her own. All of the other details of her wedding had been planned for her, including her husband.

Danna kept an even weight on the accelerator as she tried to decide where to go. Of course she would have been able to focus better if not for the images of her very displeased father that flashed in her mind.

Boom! Boom! She had completely forgotten about the body attached to the male voice that had spoken earlier. A low whirring noise filled the quiet car as the privacy screen opened, disrupting her plotting and planning.

A large, tanned hand tapped the driver’s seat as he cleared his throat. “I think I’ve escaped from that mess. Take me home to pick up my vehicle. I’ll settle up with you then.”

Danna watched him in the rearview mirror, his eyes never looked up from the gadget in his hand. Wriggling to the right, hoping to see the face that went with the gravelly voice, she took in a dark, handsome man pounding buttons on a cell phone.

“It’s dead! I don’t even have the charger.” He seemed oblivious to her as he tossed the phone to the floor. Obviously he had no idea who was driving him.

And when he finds out—guess we’ll have to buy the book to see what happens. Where can we find it?

What a great interview and the words I needed to hear at the moment. The premise of your book sets up a promising read and from the excerpt it appears you’ll deliver a fun story I want to read now. Thanks!